Recent studies have shown that some medications taken quickly after the onset of certain medical conditions can greatly enhance survival and recovery. For example, it has been shown that heart attack victims can greatly increase their chance of survival if they quickly take an aspirin after onset of the attack. It can also be important for heart attack victims to have quick access to nitroglycerin. Unfortunately, few people carry aspirin, or other helpful emergency medications, with them wherever they go. This is particularly true with respect to men because of the lack of a purse or other convenient compartment for carrying medication. Also, with increasing numbers of people exercising (e.g., walking, hiking, biking, etc.), people are away from emergency medication while engaging in activities that may aggravate medical conditions such as heart and lung problems. Even people who do carry aspirin, or other medications, are likely carry them somewhere where the medication is not readily accessible in a medical emergency (e.g. a purse or briefcase).
There presently exist a number of different ways of packaging medication (e.g., pills, capsules, tablets, vials, etc.) for consumer use. For example, various medication packaging systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,005; U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,080; U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,804; U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,246; U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,751; U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,204; U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,084; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,304. One focus of innovation in medication packaging, in addition to maintaining the integrity of the medication, has been to prevent unsupervised access, for example, by children. However, conventional medication packaging solutions do not address the problem of allowing quick access to the medication during an emergency.